different between trail vs dash

English

Etymology

From Middle English trailen, from Old French trailler (“to tow; pick up the scent of a quarry”), from Vulgar Latin *tragul?re (“to drag”), from Latin tragula (“dragnet, javelin thrown by a strap”), probably related to Latin trahere (“to pull, drag along”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: tr?l, IPA^(key): /t?e?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Verb

trail (third-person singular simple present trails, present participle trailing, simple past and past participle trailed)

1. (transitive) To follow behind (someone or something); to tail (someone or something).

2. (transitive) To drag (something) behind on the ground.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

     "I saw your brother—I saw your brother," he said, nodding his head, as Archer lagged past him, trailing his spade, and scowling at the old gentleman in spectacles.

3. (transitive) To leave (a trail of).

4. (transitive) To show a trailer of (a film, TV show etc.); to release or publish a preview of (a report etc.) in advance of the full publication.

5. (intransitive) To hang or drag loosely behind; to move with a slow sweeping motion.

   The bride's long dress trailed behind her as she walked down the aisle.
6. (intransitive) To run or climb like certain plants.
7. (intransitive) To drag oneself lazily or reluctantly along.

   Our parents marched to church and we trailed behind.

8. To be losing, to be behind in a competition.
9. (military) To carry (a firearm) with the breech near the ground and the upper part inclined forward, the piece being held by the right hand near the middle.
10. To create a trail in.
11. To travel by following or creating trails.
12. To transport (livestock) by herding it along a trail.
13. (dated) To take advantage of the ignorance of; to impose upon.
    • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

      I presently perceived she was (what is vernacularly termed) trailing Mrs. Dent; that is, playing on her ignorance.

Derived terms

• trailer
• trail off

Translations

Noun

trail (plural trails)

1. The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the sky.
2. A route for travel over land, especially a narrow, unpaved pathway for use by hikers, horseback riders, etc.
3. A trailer broadcast on television for a forthcoming film or programme.
4. (graph theory) A walk in which all the edges are distinct.

Synonyms

• (track of an animal): spoor, sign
• (route for travel over land): dirt track, footpath, path, track

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• path
• track

Anagrams

• TRALI, irtal, litra, trial

French

Noun

trail f (plural trails)

1. Dual-sport motorcycle
2. Trail running

English

Etymology

From Middle English daschen, dassen, from Danish daske (“to slap, strike”), related to Swedish daska (“to smack, slap, spank”), of obscure origin. Compare German tatschen (“to grope, paw”), Old English dw?s?an (“to quell, put out, destroy, extinguish”). See also adwesch, dush.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Noun

dash (plural dashes)

1. (typography) Any of the following symbols: ? (figure dash), – (en dash), — (em dash), or ? (horizontal bar).
   1. (computing) A hyphen or minus sign.
2. (by extension) The longer of the two symbols of Morse code.
3. A short run, flight.

4. A rushing or violent onset.
5. Violent strike; a whack.

6. A small quantity of a liquid substance etc.; less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.

   Add a dash of vinegar.

7. (figuratively, by extension) A slight admixture.

   There is a dash of craziness in his personality.

8. Ostentatious vigor.

   Aren't we full of dash this morning?

9. A dashboard.
   • 1955, Rex Stout, "The Next Witness", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, page 31:

     The dash clock said 2:38 when […] I turned off a dirt road […] .

10. (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia) A bribe or gratuity; a gift.
    • 1992, George B. N. Ayittey, Africa betrayed (page 44)

      The traditional practice of offering gifts or "dash" to chiefs has often been misinterpreted by scholars to provide a cultural explanation for the pervasive incidence of bribery and corruption in modern Africa.

    • 2006, Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, The Abolition of the Slave Trade in Southeastern Nigeria, 1885-1950 (page 99)

      Writing in 1924 on a similar situation in Ugep, the political officer, Mr. S. T. Harvey noted: "In the old days there was no specified dowry but merely dashes given to the father-in-law […]

    • 2008, Lizzie Williams, Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide (page 84)

      The only other times you'll be asked for a dash is from beggars.

11. (dated, euphemistic) A stand-in for a censored word, like "Devil" or "damn". (Compare deuce.)
    • 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes, Chapter VI, serialized in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, (VIII, no. 43, Dec 1853) p. 118

      Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you! but wanting still to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his pride once more into his waistband.

      Comment: Some editions leave this passage out. Of those that include it, some change the 'you!' to 'you?'.

    • 1884, Lord Robert Gower, My Reminiscences, reprinted in "The Evening Lamp", The Christian Union, (29) 22, (May 29, 1884) p. 524

      Who the dash is this person whom none of us know? and what the dash does he do here?

Hypernyms

• punctuation mark

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:dash

Derived terms

• dashing
• (typography): em dash, en dash
• (dashboard): dashcam, dash cam

Translations

See also

Punctuation

Verb

dash (third-person singular simple present dashes, present participle dashing, simple past and past participle dashed)

1. (intransitive) To run quickly or for a short distance.
2. (intransitive, informal) To leave or depart.

   I have to dash now. See you soon.

3. (transitive) To destroy by striking (against).

   He dashed the bottle against the bar and turned about to fight.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     "`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.'

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 4

     Kala was the youngest mate of a male called Tublat, meaning broken nose, and the child she had seen dashed to death was her first; for she was but nine or ten years old.

4. (transitive) To throw violently.

   The man was dashed from the vehicle during the accident.

   • If you dash a stone against a stone in the bottom of the water, it maketh a sound.

5. (transitive, intransitive, sometimes figuratively) To sprinkle; to splatter.

   • On each hand the gushing waters play, / And down the rough cascade white-dashing fall.

   • The very source and fount of day / Is dash'd with wandering isles of night.
6. (transitive, dated) To mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality.

   to dash wine with water

7. (transitive, of hopes or dreams) To ruin; to destroy.

   Her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage.
8. (transitive) To dishearten; to sadden.

   Her thoughts were dashed to melancholy.

9. (transitive) To complete hastily, usually with down or off.

   He dashed down his eggs, she dashed off her homework

10. (transitive) To draw or write quickly; jot.
    • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

      "Scarborough," Mrs. Flanders wrote on the envelope, and dashed a bold line beneath; it was her native town; the hub of the universe.

    • 2003, Robert Andrews, A Murder of Promise (page 198)

      Going out the door, he grabbed a windbreaker and dashed a note to his father and left it on the entry table.

Derived terms

• dash off
• gas and dash

Translations

Interjection

dash

1. (euphemistic) Damn!

Translations

See also

• hyphen
• minus sign

Anagrams

• ADHs, SAHD, Sadh, dahs, shad

Albanian

Etymology

Disputed. Potentially from Proto-Albanian *dauša, from Proto-Indo-European *d?eusóm (compare English deer, Lithuanian da?sos (“upper air; heaven”)). Alternatively from Proto-Albanian *dalša, from Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?-l- (compare Ossetian ?????? (dalis?, “young lamb”)).

Noun

dash m (indefinite plural desh, definite singular dashi, definite plural deshtë)

1. ram (male sheep)

Derived terms

• Dash
• Dashnor

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English dash

Noun

dash m (definite singular dashen, indefinite plural dasher, definite plural dashene)

1. a dash (small amount)
2. short for dashbord.

References

• “dash” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English dash

Noun

dash m (definite singular dashen, indefinite plural dashar, definite plural dashane)

1. a dash (small amount)
2. short for dashbord.

References

• “dash” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Ojibwe

Alternative forms

• idash
• -sh

Adverb

dash

1. and, and then, then

2. but

Usage notes

dash comes in the second position in a clause, indicating that one thing happened after another. It can also have a contrastive meaning and then may be translated with but.

Derived terms

• aaniin dash (“why?”)
• mii dash (“and then”)

See also

• aanawi (“although, but”)
• apii (“then”)
• gaye (“as for, also”)
• miinawaa (“and again”)

References

• The Ojibwe People's Dictionary https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/dash-adv-conj